Meiko Unsho
Meiko Unsho (うんしょメイコ, Unsho Meiko) was a former geisha, owner of a beauty salon and mother of Reika Unsho. Background Meiko was an orphan who never knew his parents. However as she grew up in the orphanage she developed a close relationship to the kids there, her friendly nature always made people come close to her. They treated each other as brothers and sisters and soon enough she felt what was like to have a big family. When Meiko reached the age of seven, a well dressed lady named Saori visited the orphanage and chose Meiko considering her as the most beautiful girl there. She would later train her to become a geisha. Saori was always very kind to Meiko and loved her as her own daughter and in return, she got her loyalty and dedication. Meiko learned invaluable resources for her future profession such as manners, dancing, how to play different musical instruments and tea ceremony. When she turned eighteen she started her career as a geisha. As the time went by, she became famous and respected. Personality Despite her good intentions and great heart, Meiko can be considered naive on some occasions. However, she's strong enough to recognize her mistakes and stand up to overcome the situation. Meiko has high esteem for the family and always regretted not being able to give Reika information about her father when she asked as a child. However, Meiko was just trying to protect her daughter from her father's clan. Because she values human life, Meiko did not want her daughter to become a kunoichi, but supported her through it because she respects other people's decisions. Appearance Meiko is dark skin elegant woman. She has grey eyes with long eyelashes. Meiko's bright long white hair has always been her beauty mark. They say her hair is so strong that it reminds one of sunlight. Her face is extremely beautiful. Even in her last years Meiko has always been an attractive woman. With a slender figure and soft and tender smile she managed to became the most popular geisha in Kumogakure. Meiko's manners are delicate but her true beauty remains in the way she speaks. Is not only her voice but the words she chooses that makes her so irresistible. Abilities Meiko excelled in singing and dancing and no one in Kumogakure could rival her in any of the arts. Her beauty attracted all kind of men even after leaving the profession of geisha. She has proven to be the best hostess Kumogakure can offer, beeing able to keep customers talking for hours which means she's very skillful with words. Later, when she runs her own business, she has shown skill when negotiating a better price with suppliers and has always received her customers gladly. Forbidden Love As a geisha there were a few rules she had to followed. Maybe the most important of them was the hardest one: don't fall in love. A hostess can not marry or get pregnant and it's supposed she would never be touched by a client. By the age of twenty-one there was no man who didn't know who Meiko was.She even attracted customers from near villages. Everybody wanted to know what made her so special and they were willing to pay any price to find it out. Saori was so pleased with her that she gave Meiko ten new kimonos as a present. Thousand of proposal used to arrive every month. Mostly from regular customers and some from royal houses, but Meiko didn't even looked at them, she was dedicated to her job and the promise she made to Saori. However, during this time she met a shinobi called Ōmiya and despite her efforts to suppress her feelings, she fell deeply in love with him. Ōmiya started visiting her once a week, then twice and after a month he used to visited her three times a week unless he was out of the village because of a mission. He was a married man, a father and the leader of a respected ninja clan. Nevertheless he had strong growing feelings for Meiko and couldn't help himself. Being extremely cautious, they met outside her job for the very first time. Meiko felt very guilty because she were breaking her promise to Saori and betraying her trust, and eventhough she promised herself that would be the first and last time she would do something like that, they ended up seeing each other in her flat every week during a year. A year later, Meiko was not feeling so well so Saori send her to the doctor suspecting the obvious but being oblivious about it because it was Meiko who we are talking about, not just any geisha. Meiko was like a daughter to her so she could not be pregnant because that would mean she lied to her. Meiko panicked as soon as she knew she was expecting a baby. But even though it was not in her plans, she decided that she would be responsible for the situation and would tell Saori the truth. Saori was devastated, not for the pregnancy but because of the lies. She explained Meiko she would not longer be able to be geisha and advice her to not expect much of Ōmiya. She had been in the business since forever, she knew men best but Meiko just couldn't believe her lover would leave her alone in distress. Meiko made an appointment with Ōmiya in the forest and gave him the news but he didn't quite take it well. He explained with impoliteness that he was not interested in her pregnancy or the baby, and that he would never have an illegitimate child, but that he would not oppose the decision that she would take whatever it would be since it was her problem only and he had nothing to do with it. He even questioned the assumption of paternity by Meiko but at that point she was not even listening to him, the sound of her heart breaking was more thunderous than Ōmiya's words. With a broken heart and a face full of tears, she returned to Saori, who made the last act of kindness towards her adopted daughter and gave her all her savings before disappearing from her life. Beauty Salon With the money Saori gave to her she put a small shop, a beauty salon attended by its own owner. Meiko missed Saori very much but understood why she couldn't forgive her. Although the first time of the beauty salon was difficult due to stress and pregnancy, Meiko's reputation guaranteed her a solid clientele. All the women wanted to know what were the secrets that Meiko carried and made her look so beautiful. By the time Reika turned four years old, the beauty salon was already a solid business. Reika's Path Meiko's life stabilized. Despite the dread that gave her the idea that her daughter was hurt, she consented Reika's request and allowed her to attend the ninja academy. Meiko thought that sooner or later Reika would get bored with school and abandon her pretense of becoming a ninja. But nevertheless, Reika not only did not leave the academy but also graduated from it with high honors. Soon Reika became a strong kunoichi gaining her own fame. One unlucky day, Reika was assigned to a mission with Ōmiya's son, her half-brother. When they got into a fight with the enemy Reika managed to perform an attack which pierced her opponent chest with her katana, sadly her half-brother was behind the enemy. Being unable to see him because of the size of her opponent, she realized what had happened only when the enemy fall down. The wound in her brother’s chest was so deep that the medical ninja who was with them at the time couldn't save him. Although it was immediately clarified by the team who returned to Kumogakure that it was an accident, no one believed Reika had killed her half-brother by accident. Was there when Meiko had to tell Reika about her dad in order to make her understand why everybody was suspicious about it. Because of the influence of Raiun clan, nobody wanted to talk or work with Reika and people usually made up excuses to avoid her. Meiko started to been bullied and lost clients till she could no longer keep her business running. When her missions began to diminish Reika knew that she was going to be asked to give up her career as shinobi in no time. So she played her last card: Reika challenged her father to a fight. If he won, Reika and Meiko would leave the village forever but if she won he would stop harassing them. Even though Reika won, Ōmiya didn’t keep his word. Not only the harassment didn’t stop but the stress resulting from it damaged Meiko's health. Meiko had little to not clients at the time and now, being unable to work due to her illness, broke her spirit. Reika had savings from her missions but nobody would sell her medicine for her mother since nobody wanted to contradict the Raiun clan. Few months later Meiko died at home. Trivia *Meiko (命子) can be translated to "fate child" while Unsho (雲処) could mean "manage cloud". *Having always been surrounded by many people, Meiko hates being alone. *Meiko never married and raised her daughter alone. *People used to say Meiko did not age up. Reference All rights reserved to Misffits. Category:Kumogakure Category:Civilian Category:FINAL